Biking the wine road

*For the record I want to state that we didn't drink nearly as much as it seems by re-reading this post. Seriously. 

"Paso del agua negra" (pass of the black water) was the most nightmarish border crossing we had during the whole trip.

We had to take an overnight bus going across the scarily uphill Andes with two crying nazgul babies that were having a contest of "who's the loudest". And had to do the border paperwork in the middle of the night in a building with no walls where they made us wait for over two hours standing in the cold.

Anyway, once we got to Mendoza we completely forgot about that, with the excitement of being in the home of the best wine in the world (yes, Mendoza's Malbec is the best wine in the world and I'll fight anyone who dares say otherwise).

The city doesn't have too much, so we only spent one day wandering around the peaceful plazas and basically enjoying the beautiful feeling of being "on the road" again.

Giant bubbles in Mendoza's central square.

Giant pumpkins in the market.

Artisanal beer in the land of wine, because rules were made to
be broken.

Happy times.

We quickly decided that we wanted to go to the close-by town of Maipú (pronounced my-poo, which caused all sort of silly inside jokes), and rent two bikes to do the famous wine road.

 A homestay/hostel in Maipú (pause for 12 year old laughter) was found, and a city bus to get there was taken. And after dropping our bags, we went straight to get our bikes and get started.

Tripadvisor reviews of the wine road are full of contradictions and people complaining about the road being too full of trucks and not as covered in fairy dust as they were expecting.

The truth is we didn't mind the (very few, by the way) vehicles, because we were too busy enjoying the scenic ride, smelling the strong fermented grapes scent, feeling the sun and marveling at the fact that Argentina allows you to drink copious amounts of alcohol and happily ride a bike helmetless on a regular road. FREEDOM!

Freedom.

So much freedom.

As we got our first wine tasting (three different kinds of wine at a wonderful boutique "bodega", or winery), we got acquainted with the most beautiful wine I've ever had. In my life. Tasting it brought tears to my eyes and happiness to Chey's.

So we bought it.

But it wasn't an impulsive crazy moment, oh no. It was a gold medal wine that won two years in a row against 59 other countries and tasted like the tears of Jesus, for the price of a six pack of XXXX gold.

Bodega Domiciano is a "boutique winery".

The wine naps to become even more awesome.

A whole lote of happiness in bottles.

Still sober us.

Unfortunate tour company name.

Tasting white. Yum.

Tasting red. More yum.

It was a wonderful afternoon altogether, we also tasted heaps of stuff at an olive stuff place (I know that's not the fancy name, but hey, English is not my first language!) and ended the day at a beer garden.

At the olive gardens, tipsy.

A feast of olive stuff.

And since wine was not enough... spirits!

"Entre olivos"

Working ants.

Vineyards.

Arriving at the beer garden.

A sneaky beer.

Back at our hostel we shared our gold medal wine under the stars.

 It's a tough life.